Traffic Jam
by Luna Cat Kitty
Summary: Fire Lord Zuko is stuck in a traffic jam as he goes to meet the mayor of Republic City. So he decides to take that time to reflect on his younger days, and tries to learn the secrets of car windows. Set five years before Korra goes to RC.


**For a contest over on ASN. Prompt was The Bygone Days.  
>Not sure if I did it right, but hey. It makes for a good story.<strong>

**In all honesty, Zuko better be around somewhere during Korra. Men in his family can live for freaking decades. Sozin and Azulon anyone?  
>I'd be just fine if he was on Ember Island sipping strawberry daceries. As long as I get a Fire Lord portrait of him with LONG FLOWING HAIR. Minimal.<strong>

**Thanks for reading and don't forget to review!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

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><p>During the war, he learned to never give up.<p>

He knew very well that if he did give up, things would have been much more different in the present day. He knew that if he gave up, many people would have been affected. He knew that if he gave up, all the friends he made would no longer be there for him. Most importantly, Zuko learned that if he gave up trying to hunt the Avatar—his friend and ally—he wouldn't be where he was today.

The elderly Fire Lord sat in a metal contraption in the city. He could vaguely recall it being called a _car_ or some other nearly foreign word. He didn't know or particularly care. The mayor of Republic City was sure to have the Fire Lord see how much the city has evolved since the last time he was there. Zuko remembered the last time he visited. It was ten or so years ago, before Aang made his journey to the Spirit World. Then he was peacefully drinking tea with his old friends and family on the island off the coast. Air Temple Island was it? Zuko couldn't remember the name, but he knew it was where Aang and Katara made their home. Now Zuko felt as if he was being led like a child by the hand to all the new attractions. It gave him a headache.

The _car_ he was in was luxurious enough, if not stuffy. He mentally scolded himself for thinking that the wagons and carriages of days gone by were stuffy. At least those had windows that he knew how to work. It was hot and muggy that day. Zuko was grateful that he abandoned the more heavy robes that he donned early in his reign, and went back to the style that the past Fire Lords wore, but with lighter fabric of course. He looked old-fashioned, but didn't really care anymore. Even after the decades of being Fire Lord, the shoulder plate he wore still got on his nerves when it was too hot.

His thoughts went back to the mysterious window and how to get it opened. He found a little crank on the inside of the door. The Fire Lord raised his eyebrow and gently turned the small contraption. A nice breeze greeted him as the glass slowly went down.

When Zuko was young, he was taught that all other nations were inferior to his own. What he learned though, that his nation was the inferior one.

He wanted to change that view. The view that one nation was superior to others. The then young Fire Lord has much to do before he could even start with changing the views of his people. At that point in time, it was impossible to. But could he blame them? His family started a war a century ago, and they were winning. He couldn't blame them for being a little bit sore with him for that. But Zuko knew that by betraying his country, that he was helping them in the long run.

He heard the sound of the _cars_ or whatever honking at each other. There was something going on, but Zuko didn't know. The Fire Lord assumed that it was the mayor stroking his own ego. The mayor annoyed Zuko for some reason. He couldn't put his finger on it, but it wasn't anything that would damage what he, Aang, and everyone else worked on. Just simply a case of enlarged ego.

The mayor was a charismatic waterbender, who was bred and born in Republic City. He saw pictures of him in one of the many papers that Lin Bei Fong and Tenzin sent to him. He always wore a big grin and one of the hats that were the current style. Zuko smiled to himself as he imagined Katara going on and on about the new nontraditional style that people wore in the city. The Fire Lord wasn't blind; he saw the updated style quickly replace some of the familiar fashions of his youth back home. He put into consideration some of the things that he did when he was younger, so clothing was at the bottom of his list of concerns. Zuko found it amusing though, how Katara and Aang's family seem to be frozen in time with their clothing style compared to everyone else.

A loud honk brought Zuko back to the _car_ and back to reality. Another honk rang across the area. Soon Zuko looked out to see someone leaning out the window of their _car_ and screaming at someone else. The Fire Lord lazily watched the screaming match erupt in front of him and sighed. He peered farther ahead and noticed that the road was damaged. Damaged as in earthbender damaged. The road was _everywhere_ but where it needed to be. He couldn't help but smile.

Another important lesson that Zuko learned was to forgive, but not necessarily forget.

Zuko held grudges like anyone else would, but he realized that he would have to let them go. It wasn't easy to simply ignore and forgive the snarls and jeers he got when he tried to make treaties to help the peace. Before he learned to forgive those who would make comments that were uncalled for, he dreaded going to those meetings and being thoroughly outnumbered by people who hated him and his country. He soon realized that it was best to forgive them for their feelings. He couldn't blame them for hating him. His family and country disrupted the balance of the world and waged a seemingly endless war for personal gain. Soon the feelings weren't as harsh, and things seemed to go much smoother. Zuko found it in his heart to attempt to forgive those who attempted to assassinate him countless times. He couldn't blame them, but deep down it hurt inside. He tried to forget, but that wouldn't be as easy.

Even decades after he passed, Zuko couldn't find the heart to fully forgive Ozai for what he's done. No one really expected him to. It wasn't until recently when someone asked why he chose to help defeat the Fire Nation in the war. He gave the usual answer of how wrong it was, and how no one nation should have that power. But then he thought more on the subject. He knew that because he was banished that he eventually met Aang and the others. The seemingly obvious thought nagged at him more when he thought deeper into it. So he soon realized that he had Ozai to thank for meeting Aang. He eventually started to slowly forgive him as well, even if it was still a work in progress.

Now there was screaming all around him. Zuko began to feel a headache coming on. He quickly began to think that he was getting too old for all of the activity going on around him. Another thought entered his mind as well, back when he was younger; it took weeks just to get to one end of the Earth Kingdom to another. Now they had all their fancy technology. He was thankful that it was never like that in Ba Sing Se. Zuko didn't want to imagine how bad it was there now. He rubbed his temples as he imagined the whole of Ba Sine Se yelling over a crumbled road.

The Fire Lord weighed his options. Roll up the windows and deal with the stuffiness of the back of the car, or have fresh air with loud screaming all around. He reached for the crank on the inside of the door and tried to rotate it. He grumbled to himself as he noticed it was jammed. Zuko sighed in defeat. He looked over to the right to see a group of people in their twenties loudly complaining about something called a _traffic jam_. Zuko assumed that was what the current situation was called. He noticed that the people who were in the car next to him were from different backgrounds and couldn't help but to smile slightly. He also noticed that the person controlling the car was directly across from him.

He shrugged it off and inhaled the fresh if not dusty air. The Fire Lord watched the people in the car next to him out of pure boredom. There was nothing else to do as they sat there and waited for the road to be earthbent back to normal. The people had their windows down so Zuko could almost make out what they were saying. All the noise didn't help much either. He noticed a woman in the car who appeared to be wearing too little for his taste talking with a few of her other companions in the car. She made a motion with her hand and the driver seemed to go into some sort of rage over something.

The next thing Zuko knew was that there was an angry youth leaning out of the car and trying to get close to his face. Zuko sat there as the person raged for a few more seconds and called him a "nosey old geezer." Soon the initial adrenalin rush ran its course and the young man just stared blankly. The elderly Fire Lord stared back. Zuko tried once again to roll up the window and remove himself as much as he could from the awkward situation, but to no avail. The youth quickly retreated back into his car. Zuko wasn't sure if it was because the person knew who he was, or if it was the initial reaction to his scar. The only thing he was sure of was the fact that the youth actively tried to avoid leaning close to him or even looking in his general direction.

Soon the Fire Lord heard his own driver speak. "Don't roll down the window back there. It gets jammed and takes forever to roll it back up." The driver glanced back to Zuko who stared blankly while sitting next to the opened window. "Err… Never mind…"

Zuko let out a sigh and began to think back to when times were simpler. What he really missed was the slower pace of everything. The _traffic jam_ or whatever they called it was a nice interruption of his routine. Even the laid back youths next to him seemed to be in a hurry.

What he missed the most were the carriages of the old days. The windows were so much simpler back then.


End file.
